Our story starts back in 2018... Gabe arrived in the U.S. as a Pais member ready to serve at a church in Arlington. After serving for a year in the Pais program, he was called to lead a new Pais team at a church in the Dallas/ Forth Worth area. That church was... you guessed it... Grapevine's First Baptist Church. Gabe began serving in the youth ministry with the youth pastor at the time, Jonathan Cook.

Now fast forward to October of 2020. Jonathan, who just so happens to be Liz's cousin, invited her to be a leader at the fall youth retreat. Upon accepting the offer, Liz was informed that a very nice, Brazilian intern would be there as well *wink wink*. While the weekend retreat was full of so many amazing things, meeting said Brazilian intern was not one of them. You see, being an intern means you run around 24/7 making sure things are running smoothly, so Liz and Gabe never had the time to do more than exchange courtesies.

Now this is where the story gets good! Fast forward to April 1, 2023. Liz had just celebrated her 23rd birthday and was transitioning into birthday celebrations for her brother, Nick Hamilton (who happens to always share the same birthday weekend with her because their birthdays are 5 days apart). To begin her brother's birthday festivities, Liz and her family attended church with Nick. That church was... you guessed it... Grapevine's First Baptist Church. After a wonderful sermon preached by Pastor Doug, the pastors and ministers were called to the front to be prayer partners during the invitation. When before Liz's eyes, stood the very nice, Brazilian intern (who was no longer an intern) from the youth retreat in 2020... it was Gabe! Liz could not help but note how handsome Gabe looked that day.

After the service, Liz and her family went to lunch, where for some reason, she could not stop thinking about Gabe. After some mild Instagram stalking, Liz decided to ask Nick to be her wingman and set her up on a date with Gabe. Nick was not too confident in his ability to get her that date, so she took matters into her own hands and asked her cousin, Jonathan, to do the job instead.

As you can see, things worked out! Jonathan got Liz and Gabe connected within days, they went on their first date April 8, 2023, became "official" April 23, 2023, and are now ready to take things to the next level... marriage!

Our story has been one that is full of what many would call chance and coincidence, but we know that our story was weaved by the Creator, who is not a god of chance, but a God of reason and purpose. There were many seasons of loneliness and doubt, wondering if the Lord heard the desires and cries of his son and daughter. While our cries longed for immediate answers, JIREH was preparing and providing. He led us to each other at just the right time.

The beautiful thing about serving a living God is that He is never done working. Our story is not finished yet. While we have ended one season and entered into a new one, the Lord is still shaping us into the man and woman we need to be to serve Him, each other, and those around us. Our prayer is that our marriage will be used to love the hurting, encourage other believers, and bring joy to all we meet. May we be a testament of God's grace from beginning to end!

E&G

Wedding Day